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EPA Extends Public Comment Period for Proposed Cleanup Plan for Gowanda Site (Peter Cooper Landfill)

Release Date: 8/29/2005
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For Release: Monday, August 29, 2005

(#05098) NEW YORK -- In response to a request from the public, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has extended the period of time open for community input on its plan to clean up the Peter Cooper Landfill Superfund site in Gowanda, Cattaraugus County, New York.

Under the proposed plan, EPA would excavate contaminated soils and place them on the elevated area of the inactive landfill, cap that area and seed it to foster natural habitat. Leachate, the contaminated liquid flowing from under the capped area, will be collected and treated, if necessary, before it is discharged to the local wastewater treatment facility. EPA will also install a subsurface barrier to limit ground water movement through the waste material and will control landfill gas. The remedy is expected to cost between $2.6 million and $4 million. Ground water in the area will not be used as potable drinking water.

EPA will be accepting comments on the proposed remedy for the site until September 26, 2005. Copies of site-related documents and the proposed cleanup plan are available for public review at both the Gowanda Free Library, 56 W. Main Street, phone: 716-532-3451, at the Seneca Nation of Indians Library, 3 Thomas Indian School Drive in Irving, phone: 716-532-9449 and at EPA's New York City office. Written comments can be submitted to Sherrel Henry, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 290 Broadway, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10007-1866 or via email at henry.sherrel@epa.gov. For more information about this site, please visit the EPA Web site at: https://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/peter_cooper_proposal2005.htm.